Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Letter to the editor:

Economic growth will not continue

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Thomas Friedman’s column in Thursday’s Sun, “The president’s prescription,” is not only wrong but also extremely dangerous.

He, as almost every economist and almost every politician, advocates growth as the solution to the problems facing humanity. All of them don’t seem to understand the simple fact that the Earth is finite, the resources it can provide humanity are finite, and, therefore, growth will cease. No action taken by humanity will permit continuous economic or population growth.

Our species must plan not only for the cessation of growth but also a continuous reduction in economic activity worldwide. If the economy of the United States was to grow at the rate of 2.5 percent per year, it would double every 28 years — 28 years from now twice as large, 56 years from now four times as large, 84 years from now eight times as large and 280 years from now 1,024 times as large.

That type of growth cannot and will not happen. Anyone who believes in economic growth is just plain wrong and causing the destruction of all of humanity.

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